


From This Moment Forward

by Notmarysue



Category: Nightmare Time - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicidal Thoughts, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, Nightmare Time broke me okay?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27100384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notmarysue/pseuds/Notmarysue
Summary: Lost and alone on the anniversary of a terrible tragedy, the man who used to be Ted finds himself back at the CCRP's offices, where he finds a teenager who's about to make a terrible mistake.
Relationships: Deb & Original Female Character (Mentioned), Ted & Jenny (Mentioned)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	From This Moment Forward

**Author's Note:**

> So...Time Bastard huh? Yeah I don't really know what this is. I just had a vague idea after the stream ended and once an idea is stuck in my head it doesn't come out until I've finished writing it. I do have an idea for a proper fix-it fic too (because Ted deserves so much better) but I want to get the next chapter of New Beginnings out first so people aren't waiting too long.
> 
> Two things:
> 
> 1.) Spoilers for Time Bastard.
> 
> 2.) This takes place one or two years before TGWDLM (does TGWDLM take place in 2018 or 2019?), hence why Alice isn't in the picture for Deb yet.

October 17th 2017.

The man who used to call himself Ted had always struggled with the concept of time. Even when the events of his life simply moved forward, thinking of time outside the most basic, calendar-based ideas hurt his head. He could manage dates. They were easy enough to understand, they were just a rolling circle of words and numbers, after all. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. January, February, March. 1st, 2nd, 3rd. It was simple enough. Though sometimes he found himself wishing he couldn’t understand that either, because if he could remember dates, he could remember the tragedies that went with them, even if he couldn’t place them exactly on the confusing timeline of his existence.

Today was the day. The anniversary of Jenny’s death, a mistake simultaneously thirteen years in his past and two years in his future. His current self, the version that still called himself Ted, was probably out there somewhere. Maybe he was thinking of Jenny too, bitterly imagining the life he believed she was living. If only he could go back to believing that lie. He still lost her no matter what, but she’d be alive and happy in Clivesdale, at least in his head.

The homeless man shambled towards the CCRP headquarters; a bottle of Jack Daniels gripped tightly in his hand. He always found himself back there at this time of year. Not that it would do much good. Even if he could be sure that the time machine that had got him into this mess had been created yet and he somehow against all odds managed to access it, what could he do? Jump back to the 2004 and pray to the unfeeling Gods that he didn’t fuck it up again? Find Jenny before his younger self had the chance and explain that her life was in danger? She’s surely call him crazy. Maybe he could go back further still, all the way to the beginning, and kill himself in the crib, so that she would never at risk of them meeting at all. Or he could act right a way and get his current self in the back, preventing him from starting the painful cycle to begin with.

He shook his head. He’d had thirteen years to come up with a plan, and while some of them could work in theory, he knew in his heart that he’d never be allowed to bring any of them to fruition. There was a fixed destiny for him, and Dinky would be sure it was fulfilled. There was surveillance trained on him now, watchers with a thousand eyes. He would not be allowed to stray.

He slumped down against the main door to his former (future?) workplace, taking a long swig of the Jack Daniels. He wasn’t sure why he bothered. He’d stopped liking the taste of liquor many years ago and drinking himself to death didn’t seem to be a possibility. Every time he thought he’d managed he ended up with a head full of nightmares before waking up in the same alley. One of Tinky’s little games no doubt. Still, habits made life easier. At least the weather was still decent. The seasons could be a struggle. Winter was too cold, summer was too hot, but autumn was more often than not just right.

**Thud.**

The man looked up sharply at what sounded like something smacking against a nearby window, before falling back to the ground. He starred into the darkness, trying to spot whatever foul creature had come to bother him now. Nothing stuck out. He sighed and leant back again. Must have been his imagination.

**Thud.**

No, that wasn’t his imagination. He may have been a drunk old man, but he could tell the difference between reality and hallucination well enough. He got up and peered around the corner. A few steps away from the wall, illuminated by the white security lights, was curly haired teenager wearing an oversized top and beanie. She backed up a couple of steps more before taking a running leap, trying to catch the side of the slightly ajar window. She missed, falling back to her feet. She sighed, backed up, and focused her gaze, calculating her next jump.

“What are you doing?” The homeless man asked.

“Practicing gymnastics.” The girl replied sarcastically. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“I don’t think you’re going to find anything you want in there.”

“Why don’t you mind your own business?” She scowled as she made another attempt. The man rolled his eyes and headed back to the main door. He pressed down on the handle. It clicked with little effort and inched open. The girl stopped. The clicking had caught her attention and she came over to investigate. “Did you just…”

“Yeah. For such a shady company, the security in this place is shit.” Said the man as he walked through the door. “You coming?”

“Um…sure.” The girl looked around before following. She scanned the reception in search of a stairwell.

“So, what you looking for you? Scavenging for stationary?” Asked the man as he slumped down against the reception desk.

“Are you following me?”

“You’re breaking and entering. I’ve got to stay here and make sure you don’t steal anything important.” He shrugged.

“I’m not here to steal anything. I don’t care about this company’s bloody staplers.” The girl huffed.

“So, what are you here for? Never met a teenager who breaks into active office buildings just for the fun of it.”

“Look, if I told you, you’d think I was crazy.”

“Well, I’m a crazy man.” He shrugged. “Try me.”

The girl sighed. She pulled herself up to sit on the reception desk, swinging her legs freely.

“I’m looking for a time machine.” She said bluntly.

“A time machine.” The homeless man mumbled. The realisation of what was happening left him cold. He’d just about learned to deal with his own demise, or at least accepted it, but the idea that Tinky was targeted an innocent person, a young girl, made him sick.

“Yeah. I told you it sounds crazy, but there’s a legend. See it’s said that thirteen years ago, a man appeared out of nowhere, in a locked room, demanding to know what year it was. The funny thing is the type of watch he was wearing hadn’t even been released yet. It’s really-“

“Don’t.” The man said firmly, grabbing the girl’s wrist tightly.

“W-what?” The girl stuttered.

“Don’t do it. Don’t look for the machine, don’t even try.”

“I-“

“I’ve seen what that thing to do, the damage it can cause. You don’t want to do this.”

“Holy shit dude, let go off me.” The girl shouted, pulling back. The man, seeing the distress he was causing, released his grip and backed away slightly.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

“You really are crazy, aren’t you?” She asked, rubbing her wrist.

“I’m just passionate about things people don’t understand. Not yet at least.” He grumbled. “You got a name?”

“Deb.”

“Nice to meet you, Deb. You want a drink?” He asked as he offered her the bottle.

“Oh, I don’t take drinks from strangers. Besides I’m underaged.” She pointed out.

“Right. Don’t offer alcohol to children, Ted.” He said to himself.

“Ted? That’s the name of the guy who supposedly…” She looked over at the men, who met her with a sad smile.

“Some relation.” He sighed.

“Does…does it work?” Deb asked.

“Time travel? It depends what you mean by ‘work’. It gets you to where you want to be, at least it will the first time you try. It’s the getting back to where you need to be that’s a pain in the ass.” He explained.

“But…can you change things?”

The homeless man considered this for the moment. He couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t a timeline where Jenny simply moved to Clivesdale with some pushy asshole, just like he had once believed. Perhaps without his interference, there was a timeline when his younger self had stayed on his feet and taken Jenny away. He would never know. He would never be allowed to know. Tinky knew that the only thing that could hurt him more than knowing what he’d done, was wondering if Jenny’s fate had always been fixed.

“Not for the better.” He finally concluded. “What are you trying to change?”

“Well, there was this girl, Ellie.”

“A girl, of course. She run off with someone else?”

“She died.” Deb replied bluntly. “House fire.”

“Oh…I’m sorry.” The man said quietly.

“It’s okay. I mean…it’s not but…if I go back maybe I can persuade her not to be in the house that night, tell her family to go on holiday or something. I don’t know. I don’t really have a plan. I just figure I’ll get back there and work it out.” She explained.

“I see.”

“Do you think I can make a difference?”

“For Ellie? I don’t know.” He shrugged. “You might make things better, you might do nothing at, you might make things so much worse than you could possibly imagine. All I know is you’re going to find yourself in the middle of something far from straight forward that you don’t want to be part of.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“A time traveller doesn’t end up on the streets without royally screwing up, kid.” He laughed. “Listen, do you want to know how you can really help Ellie?”

“Yes.” Deb nodded.

“Move on.”

“Move on?” Deb scoffed. “The girl I love died and you want me to just ‘move on’”

“No, you don’t just move on from anything, not by a long shot. You grieve, you hurt, you change, but you go forward. Take it from a man who’s spent a lot of time living in the past, if you keep trying to go back for someone who’s gone, all their memories will turn to pain. The only way you get to keep them as they were is to take their memory with you.”

“I guess…” Deb sighed. “God this was so stupid.”

“No, not stupid, just misguided.” The man assured her. “Do you want me to walk you home? It’s kind of dark out there. It’s not really safe to be wandering around alone at night.”

“In Hatchetfield? Dude, it’s perfectly safe. Nothing ever happens here. Well there was that one time a whole walking club disappeared in the woods…and there’s the rumour about the robot replicates…and the ape man. You know what, I would appreciate being walked home, thank you.”

The man nodded. The pair walked through the streets in understanding silence, until they reached a small caravan park.

“Thanks, dude.” Said Deb.

“No problem. Got to try and do some good in this world. God knows I’ve done enough bad.” The man shrugged. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. Guess I’ll find out. What about you?”

“Made it this far.” He sighed.

“Yeah.”

“Debera Harden, where the Hell have you been? Get your ass back here.” A middle-aged woman in a long raincoat, pulled over pyjamas, yelled from a few meters away. Deb rolled her eyes.

“I’ve got to go. Thanks again. Oh, here.” Deb pulled out a ten-dollar bill and handed it over. “Buy yourself some food or some shoes or whatever is it you buy.”

Deb ran off and disappeared into her trailer, followed by the middle-aged woman. The man who used to be Ted smiled and placed the bill into his pocket.

“You win this round, Teddy.” A voice echoed through the air.

“I did.” He nodded. “And don’t you ever forget it.”


End file.
